'HBOS banker is jailed for 11 years after he and his cronies plundered £1bn from small firms to fund sex parties, superyachts and lavish holidays

* Lynden Scourfield forced clients to use services of consultant friend David Mills * HBOS banker was provided with romps with prostitutes and lavish gifts in return * Jurors told fraud worth £245m but cost to small firms ruined by scam up to £1bn * Scourfield jailed 11 years after he 'sold his soul' to Mills who got 15 year sentence

A corrupt HBOS banker has been locked up for 11 years after he and his cronies 'financially raped' small businesses to fund lavish holidays and sex parties in one of Britain's biggest ever frauds.

Lynden Scourfield, 54, a senior director of HBOS, 'sold his soul' to David Mills by forcing firms that needed to borrow cash to use his friend's crooked consultancy firm.

He 'sold his soul for sex, for luxury trips ... for bling and for swag', a judge said.

Behaving like the 'Mafia', they would then use threats and extortion to seize control of the businesses, plundering bank accounts and pocketing massive new loans granted in their name.

Scourfield, who boasted of being the 'grand wizard', enjoyed luxury holidays, trips on Mills' superyacht and sex with porn stars in return for his help. The scam cost scores of hard-working middle-class business owners not only their livelihoods, but also their family homes, pensions, savings and in one case even her marriage.

Jurors were told the fraud was worth £245million, but victims and police sources said the cost to small firms ruined by the scam was up to £1billion.

Scourfield was jailed for 11 years and three months while Mills, 60, was given 15 years at Southwark Crown Court today.

Michael Bancroft, 73, was jailed for 10 years, Mark Dobson, 56, for four-and-a-half years, and John Cartwright, 72, for three-and-a-half years for their various roles in the fraud between 2003 and 2007.